Avanquest Software Publishing has announced the official release date for Jewel Quest Mysteries: Curse of the Emerald Tear, exclusive to the Nintendo DS. Following on from the hugely successful original Match-3 Puzzle game, an additional hidden object element has been added that sees players travel to ancient Egypt in search of lost objects. Using an Archaeologist's notebook, players select a quest and then undertake tasks from one of two game genres.
GamesWeasel: For those that don’t know, the Jewel Quest franchise has been around since 2004 and has already spawned a great number of sequels on different platforms.
Jewel Quest Mysteries: Curse of the Emerald Tear follows the investigations of Rupert and Emma, intrepid explorers in search of the Emerald Tear Jewel board, amongst other jewels and treasures, which is believed to have special powers. Though the story may be superfluous to some, it maintains a context and intersperses the puzzles. The story is told through means of a journal, written by Emma, which leads the player between locations and through the levels. There are four locations and seventeen levels in total.
Jewel Quest Mysteries isn't a bad game – in fact, the many levels and attractive music and graphics make it a relaxing casual game – but with a number of flaws it doesn't rank as high as more polished hidden object puzzlers.
